Lights and Sounds
by MegaTJ
Summary: What starts out as a birthday surprise quickly blossoms into something that Vinyl Scratch never though would happen in a million years.
1. Surprise!

Surprise!

The cool, crisp air of Ponyville nipped at Vinyl Scratch's face. Her body was damp with the sweat of adrenaline, and her heart was still pounding from the concert. Only performing could do that to her—give her the excitement and rush of energy every DJ dreams of achieving.

"Boy what a crowd!" she announced to the empty street. She barely heard her words over the ear buds in her ears blasting music into her head. Vinyl took a deep breath and quickened her pace, eager to get home after such a fun night. Her bed was practically calling her name! A few turns and sometime later, she reached the end of Apple Avenue.

She withdrew a key from her saddle bag with her magic, slid it into the keyhole of the door of the largest music shop in town, and turned the lock. She walked in and tossed her music player to the table next to the coat rack and wriggled her saddlebag to the floor. Tapping into her magic energy, she started a small spell. In an instant, every light in the shop flicked on.

"SURPRISE!"

Vinyl's heart nearly shot out of her chest, but instead took her to her rear hooves prepared with a Plasma Bolt for the nearest attacker. She relaxed a bit when she realized that it was just all of her friends and family. The glowing attack in her horn faded and she got back down on all four hooves, which caused some laughter rippled through the crowd.

"Okay…now that I know I'm not being mugged", Vinyl said to the crowd, "why are you guys all here?"

The reply was more laughter and, before anypony could speak, Pinkamena Diane Pie had appeared instantly in front of her. She pushed a party blower to the side of her mouth. "Well, _duh! _It's your birthday silly!" she explained with a generous blow of the party blower. "You know, candles, friends, presents, cake—" She stopped in a look of horror. "Oh no!" she gasped, "I was so busy with everything I forgot the cake! NO PONY MOVE UNTIL I GET BACK!"

In another instant Pinkie Pie disappeared, only to reappear three seconds later carrying a large, DJ decorated cake on her back. "All is well the cake is here!"

Some of the ponies humored her with a round of applause. She bowed to them, sliding the cake off of her rump and onto the table nearest her. She then disappeared again into the crowd to do Pinkie Pie things. As some of the others started to swarm her with happy birthdays and hugs, Vinyl found there was something amiss. It seemed as if Pinkie Pie had forgotten one other crucial, and aural, ingredient for the party.

"Hey, where's the music?" she asked looking around. "Is Strings going to play?"

"Not this time, Vinyl", said a blue unicorn emerging from the crowd carrying a guitar on his back. "Pink and I know how much more you prefer techno over rock, so we got in touch with one of her old friends. Besides, most of the Shooting Stars couldn't make it tonight anyway."

"Aww that bites. Well, then, who's playing?"

As if she said the magic word, a low beat sounded throughout the shop. The lights flicked off and neon colored laser lights filled the darkness. Everything started glowing when black lights buzzed to life somewhere near the back. Many of the ponies cheered and turned to the rear of the shop, where a large, yet portable, DJ stand was set up.

Static followed the beat and was soon replaced by quickened electronic notes, intricately placed one after the other. Vinyl was instantly drawn to the electric music. She navigated the crowd while fighting the urge pushing anypony aside. The stage came into full view as she cleared the final row of spectators. It was then she saw the pony responsible for putting out such vivid music shuffling from side to side in the stand.

He was a vibrant pale blue Earth Pony. His short mane and not-so-short tail sported a pale creamy color. On his head sat a black hat with a white blank front panel. His ears were covered by a large gray pair of headphones with a microphone attached to them.

"This is a little something I cooked up just for the birthday girl!" he announced loudly. His voice was magnified three times too much for the room's size. Apparently he couldn't hear it due to his headphones, and for some reason he didn't see some of the partygoers recoil against the sound wave. It even shook Vinyl up.

Everypony forgot it when he started back on the keyboard. The palpable notes were put out a second time, producing terrific trance music. It wasn't much longer before everypony started to dance in time to his keyboard-striking hooves. The music was both slow and energetic, so the dancing started off somewhat rocky, however, everypony soon got into the groove and tried their best to impress the others. The colt alternated between his keyboard and his records, and Vinyl—using her professional knowledge—found that he wasn't the best mixer in the world, or at least, he hadn't been at it for long.

Vinyl scooted her way to the stand, hoping to get a better look at this DJ. As she closed in on him, she knew for a fact he was a beginner. The way scratched was too rough. If he kept it up, he would certainly permanently damage his records. She stepped into the booth just as he turned around to play the keyboard again. He saw her and pushed a button on the console. The music switched to a prerecorded verse that he had recorded with the keyboard some time before.

"So", he said with a removal of his headpiece, "Do you like what I've put together?"

"I think you need some practice", Vinyl teased.

His smile faded.

"But", Vinyl continued, "Everypony's liking it. You're not half bad, kid."

"Kid?" he echoed, somewhat offended, "Pinkie Pie says I'm only a year younger than you are!"

"Yeah, but you aren't all that tall." She gave his head a rub. For more aggravation, she added with a toothy grin, "Kid."

He grumbled slightly, but just shrugged it off with a roll of his eyes. "Do you really like it?"

She nodded, "For somepony that's just starting off, you're pretty good. How long?"

"Two months."

"I take that back." Vinyl stared widely at him. "You're really good. Just two months?"

"Well", he replied, "Just on the discs. I've been a keyboarder for most of my life. Started out on piano. I'm pretty sure you can tell."

Vinyl cocked her head to the side. Of all of her questions, she had forgotten one. "What's your name?"

He jumped slightly. "W-well, that depends…" He swallowed nervously.

"On?"

"Do you want my real name or my stage name?"

Vinyl found his sheepish smile kinda cute, so she asked, "Why not both?"

"Ok", he gulped, "M-my name is Trance Jammer."

"And your stage name?"

"K3ybord LIghtz."

"Lights?"

"I'm a light show artist too." He forced himself to smile.

"Ah", she replied, "Well, my name is—"

"Vinyl Scratch." He smiled wider. "I already know that."

"That doesn't surprise me", she said with a small giggle.

Suddenly, the music stopped. The recorded song had finished playing through.

Instinctively, Trance jumped back on his keyboard. At the same time, Vinyl jumped on the discs. The crowd went wild as both the keyboard and the mixer blasted their sound waves in a musical explosion. Trance hit a button on his overhead dashboard and the lights on his stand started dashing around the room and flicker over the crowd.

The two musical ponies were completely in sync with each other despite only being slightly aware of the other's existence for the collaborative performance. Their music blended evenly: one producing one beat as the other dropped a beat. The song suddenly picked up and continued to get faster and faster until Vinyl threw up her hooves and Trance slammed his down onto his keyboard, officially ending the song with a loud boom. The lights froze in place.

Applause roared from the crowd followed by whistling and finally shouts for an encore. Vinyl looked at her friends and just realized that she had just given them the best performance she had ever put on. She spun around to see Trance still hovering over his keyboard. His hooves were still firmly planted on the keys. Then she noticed him shaking.

She walked over to him. "Hey, you okay, Kid?"

Upon seeing his face, she saw that there were tears running down his eyes. He muttered something.

"What?" Now she was starting to get concerned.

"My first applause." He flashed her a bright smile. "Thanks, Vinyl."

**T**

"I take it you're not much of a stage goer, huh?"

Vinyl and Trance were walking through the shop. The Earth Pony had set his control panel to autopilot, leaving a steady beat vibrating through the floor, walls, and the ponies themselves.

Trance smiled sheepishly. "No, just not a good one…"

"Stage fright?"

He nodded. "I'm a big scaredy-cat onstage", he sighed.

Vinyl decided not to go deeper into it. She knew that stage fright could be pretty embarrassing and hard on a pony. She shuddered at the thought of her amateur days. "I really liked the song, kid", she complimented.

His eyes widened in realization. "Oh, that reminds me." He removed his hat and rummaged through it until he withdrew a small, white cassette tape. He had taped a red bow to it. He hoofed it to her. "It's a mix tape of my, umm, 'Pinkie Pie proclaimed' greatest hits. I hope you liked it…"

She turned it over. Scribbled on the other side in the keyboarder's hoofwriting, he had written:

_To My Biggest Idol,_

_From Your Biggest Admirer,_

_T.J._

_1. Light Up Your World_

_2. Forecasting Dreams_

_3. Mountains of Hearts_

_4. Special Someponies_

_5. Tell Her (About Your Love)_

_6. Just for You_

_7. Figure Me Out_

"Don't call me weird, but they're all love songs", Trance said as she read over them. "They're also the only songs I've produced that have lyrics…"

Vinyl looked at him. Even through the black lights, she could tell that he was blushing fiercely. She glanced back at the tape. "You're really full of surprises, huh Kid?"

"I should probably get used to that nickname, huh?"

She grinned. "Yep. That is, until it gets old. I give it a week."

They came to stop at the snack table. A card sat upright on the table. Vinyl levitated it up to her. She read aloud, "Hope this satisfies your sweet tooth, love, the Cakes."

"Ooooh, Sugarcube Corner goodies, the gifts just keep coming!" Trance exclaimed.

"Gifts?" Vinyl gave him a very confused look. This was her birthday, wasn't it?

"Oh, I guess Pinkie Pie didn't tell you." The look he was receiving from Vinyl definitely confirmed that. "It's my birthday too…"

"Oh, really? Happy birthday!" Vinyl cheered happily. That explained the many unfamiliar ponies in the shop.

He grinned. "Thanks."

"I just wish I had a present to give you", she pondered to herself, "With the song and the tape I kinda feel bad."

"Nah, that's okay. I got to come here to play, I got my first applause, and I got to meet _and _play beside my hero! I can't ask for anything else."

"'Play beside your hero?'" she asked with a slight giggle. "That's flattering."

"I really mean it. You're the pony that gave me the love of music. You're the reason I took up keyboarding and DJing."

Vinyl saw that behind the admiration his void purple eyes held, something more lay. What it was, though, she couldn't tell. She knew there was definitely something.

"You know, Kid. I think you and I are gonna be real good friends."

**T**

_Three hours later…_

The lights were now back on in the shop, and everypony had since started to leave the awesome party. Trance packed up his stand, and Vinyl was beginning to pick the place up. She grabbed a broom and got to sweeping when Strings walked up carrying a passed out Pinkie Pie on his back.

"Scratch, we're gonna bale. Pink had a sugar overload. Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"You guys go home, I can handle this", she said over her shoulder.

He nodded and walked away, being careful not to wake Pinkie Pie.

Trance waited until everypony had gone, then started pushing shelves back into their respective places.

Vinyl heard him, and called, "You can go, I can get it by myself later!"

He popped his head around a corner. "I'll stay. Besides, there's a lot to do and you're probably already tired."

"Aren't you tired?" She kept her back to him. If she turned around, he would see how tired she was even through her shades. For some reason she didn't want to burden him with cleaning.

"I'm a pony of the night", he explained, "I can stay up for a couple more hours."

She didn't say anything, so for a while the two just cleaned in silence with only the sound of sweeping and shuffling to accompany them. It was after maybe ten minutes when Trance decided to speak up.

"So, um, I was wondering…" He stopped cleaning to look at her.

"Yeah?" Her back was to him again; she was busy emptying her dust pan into the trash.

"Do you think that maybe Saturday we could hang out?" He bit his lip. "I mean, if you're not busy."

She perked up and turned. Giving him a huge smile, she said, "That'd be awesome!"

Trance turned back around. "Yes!" he silently cheered. Vinyl pretended not to hear him. It would only have embarrassed him.

She let him have his joy, because for all Trance knew, this was the most perfect birthday ever.

**And we have our next story up! This was written a few years ago, so you'll notice the difference in writing styles until after chapter three.**


	2. Trance

Trance

Vinyl woke up the next morning to the sun shining on her face. Lazily, she yawned and stretched her sore muscles. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the warm sun was a product of her falling asleep on the balcony of her home. She yawned again, then wondered exactly why she had fallen asleep on her balcony chair. She rolled over onto her hooves and looked around, as if something on the balcony was going to tell her why. She opened the glass door to her kitchen and was met with a blast of icy air. She jumped in shock and nearly slammed the door closed to get away from it.

"What the!?" Everything was so weird. She didn't keep it that cold in the house. And she rarely ever slept on the balcony. What was going on?

She grabbed a sweater from one of the stools in her kitchen to combat the cold while she started a one-mare detective agency to find out just what in Equestria was responsible for the strange phenomena. She slipped it over her head and crossed the hall that lead from the kitchen to her room. The white unicorn pushed in the door to her room and froze when she saw the blankets on her bed rise and fall with the breaths of somepony beneath them. Now everything made sense.

The night before, Trance Jammer was about to leave for his hotel when Vinyl offered to let him stay the night instead. He readily agreed and she gave him her room while she camped out on the balcony under the stars. As for the arctic temperature inside, she could only guess he turned the thermostat down to help him sleep.

She crossed the room to the bed and saw he hung his hat on the banister. She smiled teasingly and snatched it up. From there she slipped it backwards onto her head. Vinyl moved to the right side of the bed to get a better look at the snoozing colt. He was out cold and didn't look like he was going to wake up anytime soon. She took that moment to gaze of her sleeping form.

He was practically the same way she left him last night. The only thing different were the lighter cream highlights at the tips of his mane. Other than that, he was exactly the same before she went to bed: passed out and snoring.

Deciding that she had watched him sleep long enough, she left the room and made her way back to the kitchen. She used her magic to pull open the cabinets and fridge and levitate out materials and ingredients for breakfast. She set the nob for the front left burner at medium, and soon, the kitchen sprung alive with the sounds of cooking.

Meanwhile, Trance began to stir. He stretched and mumbled in his sleep to the point of waking himself up. Then, as his normal morning tradition, he jumped straight out of bed and landed on all four hooves. With a final yawn, he opened his eyes, revealing that it didn't much improve his vision against the dark room that didn't look at all like the hotel room he had booked. Memories from the night before combined with the purple blanket twisted up onto the bed finally provided him with enough evidence to realize where exactly he spent the last night. A blush flew across his face upon realizing he just slept in Vinyl Scratch's bed. And he was in her _room. _Panic hit him over the head with a two by four.

"Oh, man", grimaced to himself, "Red light. Red light!"

He glanced around to the banister where he left his hat. He nearly fainted when he saw that its absence. However, when he saw Vinyl's shades had replaced it, he sighed and grinned to himself. He snatched them from the perch. He tried slipping them on, but had a hard time keeping the armless glasses to balance on his nose. He practiced with them and got them to stay in place after a few seconds. The dark room instantly went black behind the violet lenses. He raised them above his eyes to find his way to the door.

Vinyl's back was to the hallway when Trance walked in. He watched her from the doorway as she cooked. She zipped back and forth from one frying pan to another with blinding speed. Before he woke up, she had already set the table for both of them. His hat was perched backwards atop her head. _Wow…_he thought_…she looks good in my hat._ A blush grew from that thought. He shifted his weight, causing a board underneath him to creak.

Her ear twitched. "Morning, Kid!"

"Aww…horseshoes!"

She motioned him over.

He walked over curiously. "Yeah?"

In a snap, she whipped a one-eighty and shoved a spoonful of whatever she was cooking into his mouth. The taste of cherries washed over his tongue. He savored the home cooking so slowly several hours could have passed.

"You like?" she giggled, holding another spoonful up to him.

He nodded. "Yeah, it's really good!" He opened his mouth for more.

She rolled her eyes and slipped the spoon back into his mouth. "It's something my mom taught me when I was little."

Trance gulped down the second mouthful. "What is it?"

"Cherry oatmeal", she chirped.

"I want a lot of that!" He moved to look over her shoulder to see the top of the stove.

"You hafta help me with something first." She backed away from the stove and levitated a spoon up to his face. Before he could ask, she answered, "Keep stirring the pots. I'm going to make some batter for pancakes."

"I don't think the continental breakfast at the hotel can top this!" He grabbed the spoon in his teeth and started stirring.

"Thanks", Vinyl replied as she poured about half a bag of pancake mix into a large bowl. "Not many ponies get to taste my cooking. Believe it or not, I don't get much noncustomer company."

Trance pulled his face back to avoid the heat coming from the saucepan. "Really?" He raised an eyebrow. A famous pony like Vinyl Scratch not getting constant attention seemed unreal to him. "You mean you don't have hundreds of ponies beating on your door trying to see you?" He dipped his stirring spoon into another pot.

"Nope", said Vinyl, pouring some water into the bowl. "Ponyville is full of ponies that have tons of respect for me. They know how hard it is already."

"Huh. Good thing you aren't in Manehattan." He switched pots. His poor motion resistance started to plague him with nausea, but he kept stirring anyway. If she was going to be nice enough to cook him an awesome breakfast then it was the least he could do to return her kindness. Not that he wasn't thinking of a better way or anything.

Vinyl smirked teasingly. She opened a drawer and levitated out two more spoons. She took Trance's and started stirring all three pots at once while she mixed the pancake batter.

"Hey, why didn't you do that in the first place?" Trance asked challengingly. "I mean, besides being lazy."

A fourth spoon smacked him in the back of the head. It didn't hurt, but it did take him by surprise.

Vinyl laughed at his shocked expression. "Don't mess with me, Kid."

Behind her glasses, his features slowly faded into a defeated, but soft smile. Vinyl sure was something else.

**T**

Clinking and clanging echoed throughout the kitchen. Trance scrubbed the breakfast dishes in the sink thoroughly before hoofing them off to Vinyl. She rinsed the kitchenware and set them in their respectful places on the drying rack.

"How is it I'm helping you with _your _chores?" Trance asked as he pushed another plate her way.

"Because I'm lazy", she simply joked with a smirk. "Can't do all this myself."

"I'm your guest, shouldn't you be catering to me?"

"Oh, come on, didn't your parents make you do dishes when you were little?"

"Why do you think I don't wanna wash'em now?"

She laughed, "Ha! Guess that makes sense!" She levitated the last plate into the rack and pulled the plug in the sink.

Now that the terrific breakfast was behind them, there was nothing left to do. The morning was quiet, and Celestia had barely gotten the sun a quarter of the way into the sky. Being a lazy Wednesday, everypony was undoubtedly still sleeping in. The inside of the shop was busy warming up; Vinyl had turned the thermostat up a touch. The cold air didn't exactly agree with her sinuses.

She sniffed. "I hafta open the shop in an hour. You wanna do anything until then?"

He dried his hooves with a towel. "Sure thing! What can we do?"

"It's up to you, Kid."

"How about coming up with a new nickname for me?" he said teasingly.

"Not a chance."

He rolled his eyes. He remembered the tape he gave to Vinyl last night and that gave him an idea. "It's my first time here, so why don't you show me around the shop?"

"Hm…that sounds cool." She trotted downstairs with Trance following happily behind. "It's pretty much your average music store", Vinyl said once they got to the first floor. "Ya know, CDs, shelves, demos, floor, ceiling, and walls."

She walked him in and out of the shelves, showing him everything the shop had to offer. It was when she led him past a shelf of headphones that she knew she had something she wanted to do. She grabbed his hooves and dragged him across the shop.

"Whoa, where we going?" he asked, trying to keep his balance while she pulled him into the shop's warehouse.

"I wanna show you something awesome!" She slowed to a stop in front of a small pile of boxes. An industrial label on the side read PonyTech. One of the boxes was already open, and she levitated a smaller box out. Inside the box was a pair of black and red headphones.

Trance snatched the box out of the air. "Are these the new PonyTech E2-Dragon Fires?!"

"Yep."

"These things aren't even out on the market yet!" he exclaimed. "How did you get'em?"

"PonyTech releases their new stuff about a week early", she explained. "I made sure I was one of the first to jump on the premiere order list. Only five shops in Equestria have them right now."

He held the box back out to her. She merely grinned.

His head turned on its side. "What?"

"Happy birthday."

His body went numb with excitement. "A-are you sure?"

She nodded, and then cheekily said, "Unless you'd like a patented and autographed Vinyl Scratch kiss."

Trance's mind went blank. He shifted his gaze back and forth between Vinyl and the headphones. "Are you s-serious?"

The unicorn almost burst into a fit of laughter, but upon seeing his blood red blush covered face, she stopped with the teasing. "Sorry, Kid, I didn't mean to give your hopes up…"

He shook his head quickly. "N-no, I m-mean, it's fine. Thanks so much for the headphones." He hugged them close, unsure of whether getting them from Vinyl Scratch or the headphones themselves was the better gift. _Still…_his thoughts echoed, _a kiss from her…_

Vinyl knew that she crossed the line when she saw the slight disappointment on the colt's face, so she decided to make it up to him. "Tell ya what, Kid. After our date Saturday, if you show me a good time, I'll kiss ya then."

The blush once again filled Trance's face. "D-d-date!?"

"Well, yeah, what else do you call asking a girl to take a Saturday off?" Vinyl asked.

"I don't know…a get-together, friendly visit…"

"It's a date", she said flatly, "We are going on a date."

_Oh, man, _he thought, _She saw right through me!_

Trance said nothing and nodded. The box in his hooves was practically begging him to tear it open and rip the headphones right out. Before he could make a move, Vinyl used her magic to levitate it away from him and neatly open it. In a matter of moments, she had the red and black speakers out of the box and slipped them over his ears.

"Oh, they are _so _you", she complimented.

"Really?" he asked shyly.

"You bet, Kid." She turned to leave the warehouse.

Along the way, she grabbed her own pair of Dragon Fires that were lying on a small table near the door. Hers were blue and white, making Trance wonder if she picked out a pair with a color scheme opposite of hers on purpose. He just shook his head at whatever conspiracy his overactive imagination was trying to come up with.

He followed the unicorn back through the shop and to a small stand near the staircase. She grabbed his tape from it and trotted up the stairs. It was then he noticed the speakers harnessed to the banister of the second floor. He followed the cables and found that they were hooked up to a stereo in the front of Vinyl's kitchen. To him, it looked like it played everything. It had a CD player, a record player, a tape deck, and even a poniPod dock. She opened the cassette player and inserted his tape. Upon pushing play, the speakers in the store started to play Trance's music. The first song that played was kind of slow, but it picked up to Vinyl's liking.

"Not bad", she complimented.

"Thanks. The lyrics kick in about halfway through."

"I'll hafta listen to them later." She checked the clock hanging above the hallway door. The time brought a sigh from her. "It's time to open up. If you don't wanna stay stuck in here all day, you can go out and explore. I'll be waiting for you."

"I can help out if you want."

"Nah, it's not going to be busy today", she said, walking back down the stairs.

He followed her to the door. She unlocked it and flipped the "closed" sign to "open.

Trance really didn't want to leave, but he didn't want to be a creepy obsessed colt and invade her space the whole day. "Well", he said, "I guess I can go find something to do."

"Hey", she said before he left out.

"Yeah?"

"Stop by at about twelve. We'll do lunch."

He felt his heart pick up its pace.

"Y-yeah! I'll be here!"

"I hope so." Vinyl gave him a flirtatious wink.

He turned around and walked off with a wide grin. "Oh, man", he said under his breath, "She's so awesome!"

**I'm so glad I already had the next two chapters of this story already written, it's really going to cut down on the delays. And I've got a school holiday coming up, so if I really work on it, I should cut them down to miniscule delays if even that.**

**If you already didn't know, there's a new poll on my profile asking for opinions about the stories of this writing season, so if you'd like to share, I'd really like to see what you think of them.**

**Trivia:**

**I went through a brief phase last season where I came up with OCs for all of the background and lesser-seen ponies. Trance was the first on that list.**

**Little is changing in these chapters since I started to publish these years old words, so my original plot idea is the exact same.**


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